LOGINREINAMorning crept into the apartment in thin, pale stripes, slipping through the half-closed blinds and stretching across the living room floor.Calestino had fallen asleep on the couch sometime before dawn, but he was already awake when I came downstairs.He looked exactly the way he had the night before—black T-shirt, jeans, boots still on, like he had never really intended to sleep. A gun rested on the coffee table beside him, placed there with the casual ease of someone who had carried weapons his entire life.His gaze lifted from his phone the second he heard me.It was the same look he always gave me. Quick. Professional. Assessing.Checking to see if I was okay. Like I was his priority.“You sleep?” he asked.I shook my head, yawning. “Barely.” My voice sounded rough, like I had been swallowing sand all night. The truth was I hadn’t slept longer than an hour at a time. Every creak in the building had dragged me awake. Every car passing on the street had sent my heart racing.
REINAThe door slammed shut behind me with a violence I didn’t know I had in me. The sound echoed through the empty hallway like a gunshot, sharp and final, and I pressed my back to the wood as if I could physically hold the night outside. My chest heaved. My palms were slick with sweat. My nails had dug half moons into the meat of my hands so deep I could feel the sting now, belated and distant, like pain happening to someone else.I held my breath.Listened.The low growl of his engine started, idled for a heartbeat, then faded down the street. Gone. Just like that. The silence that followed was worse than the sound of him leaving. It pressed in from every side, thick and suffocating, settling into the corners of the apartment like smoke.I slid down the door until my ass hit the floor. Knees to my chest. Robe gaping open at the front. I didn’t bother closing it. What was the point? He had already seen everything. Touched everything. Ruined everything.My lip was bleeding. I had bit
DOMENICOThe lobby was too bright.The lights overhead were harsh, unforgiving white and sterile, like a hospital corridor. Every polished surface reflected too much: marble floors, glass walls, chrome edges. There was nowhere for shadows to hide, nowhere for me to tuck the things I had just said, the things I had admitted without trying to soften them.The concierge looked up when we stepped inside.Then he looked away just as quickly.He had seen that look before. On men who walked in whole and left fractured. On women who were not crying yet but would be the moment they were alone. On couples who did not touch each other even when standing inches apart.Reina’s hand was still in mine.Cold.Not pulling away but not holding on either. Her fingers rested limp against my palm, as if she had forgotten they were there. I guided her through the revolving door, my grip gentle, instinctive, the same way I had handled her all night. Careful not to hurt. Careful not to lose.The glass panels
DOMENICO “The first one was named Rose.”She went still. The name sat between us like a ghost.“She needed protection,” I continued. “A name. A connection that scared people away. I was that name, at least to her at the time. She knew what she was getting into.”“And you?”“I needed an heir.”Her lips trembled. “Say that again and see if I don’t throw this bottle at your head.”“I needed an heir,” I repeated quietly.She inhaled sharply through her nose.“She got pregnant on purpose,” I said. “I knew it. I let it happen. Thought it would be simple.”“Simple,” Reina echoed. “Did you ever once think about the woman? Or was she just a womb with a pulse?”“I thought about survival.”“And did she survive you?”The accusation in that question was brutal.“She wanted more,” I continued. “Marriage. Love. Permanence. I told her from the beginning I would not give that. I was not capable of it.”Reina leaned forward, eyes blazing. “Then why me? You said you want to marry me. What changed?”Bec
DOMENICO The water had gone tepid.Not cold enough to shock, not warm enough to comfort, just sitting there, heavy against my skin, clinging to Reina’s body like it didn’t want to let her go either. The jets had long since died down. The steam thinned. The room felt too quiet now, like it was holding its breath.Reina was still pressed to my chest, her cheek right over my heart, her hand splayed flat against my ribs.She was listening to me without meaning to.Every beat. Every hitch. Every stutter I couldn’t control.When she breathed in, I felt it expand under my sternum. When she exhaled, it was slow, measured, like she was bracing herself for something she already knew would hurt.Then she asked.“Tell me about them.”Four words.Soft. Careful. Not an accusation. Not a demand.Still, it felt like a blade slid clean between my ribs.My heart kicked once, hard and violent, like it was trying to escape before I could stop it. Shame rose fast and ugly, burning the back of my throat,
REINAThe bedroom still smelled like us, sweat, sex, lavender from the bath oil he’d poured earlier. My body felt like it had been taken apart and put back together wrong in the best way: heavy limbs, tender skin, a deep, pulsing soreness between my legs that throbbed every time I shifted. I couldn’t feel my pussy properly anymore, just a warm, swollen ache that reminded me of every thrust, every time he’d filled me until I sobbed.Domenico noticed the way I winced when he finally pulled out.He didn’t say anything. He just scooped me up, arms under my thighs, chest to my back, and carried me into the bathroom like I was something fragile he refused to drop.The tub was already running, steam curling up from the water, jets humming softly. He’d started it sometime between round three and round whatever number we’d lost count at. The air smelled clean, herbal, like eucalyptus and something faintly sweet. He stepped down into the water without hesitation, lowering us both until the heat
REINAI froze the moment my eyes landed on him.Andrew.It was like time had slammed into me, dragging me back to that night—my prom night. I could feel it all over again: the excitement, the laughter, the world spinning with possibility, thinking I had it all. And then him. Him shattering everythi
REINA Calestino leaving like that didn’t sit right with me.He didn’t even try to hide it. One second he was squared up, ready to put Andrew in the ground or pull a gun from nowhere, and the next second he went stiff. Not alert. Not aggressive. Tense in a way that felt… controlled. Like someone ha
REINA The hands on my face were rough.Not comforting. Not gentle. They held me still like I might fall apart if he let go even for a second.“Reina,” the voice said, low and sharp. “Look at me. Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”I blinked hard, my vision clearing in uneven waves. The first thing
REINAI had been sitting inside my car in the school parking lot for the past fifteen minutes, staring at the list Tessa had shoved into my hands the night before like it was a war strategy.Operation: Make Domenico Forget About You.She even wrote it at the top in capital letters, like she was nam







